The Manila Invasion
by Oak-and-Iron
Summary: It's been a year since the events at Requiem, as the Infinity makes its final rounds in route back towards earth it catches covenant ships preparing an attack on Mars. As the battle in the stars rages, a drop ship lands in New Manila. Some MC/OC and mentions of Cortana. Spoilers for Halo 4. Rating based on further content.
1. Chapter 1

My new try at a halo fic, post reading the fall of reach.

Also if you read it the first day I published my dates were way off and I corrected it a few hours later to about 1 year after the events at Requiem

Hope you like it, review!

* * *

2562

New Manila, Mars

The office was unnecessarily cold today, you'd think everyone could just be adults and accept that sometimes people got carried away. Laura Weather sighed and averted her eyes from those of her coworkers as she walked down the isle of cubicles. If it was going to be that way she was just going to ignore them. She turned left at her desk, second to the window, highly coveted second to the first to the window, despite the fact that both were in fact screened from the window still. But if she leaned back far enough to poke her head out of her little box, she got the to see the view out of the 7th story floor to ceiling windows. This is her reward for performing well, a step closer to almost having a window. Wonderful.

Friday, the party had been a splendid idea, a great way to relax and get to know one's coworkers in a non-work environment. What she hadn't planned on was the strength of the drinks handed out at said party. She'd had a few too many and one thing led to another and she was standing on top of a table assuring everyone that they were not safe, that the covies would glass everyone and they'd have nowhere to hide. Something every civilian probably worries about, from the high profile cities on Earth to the last few distant compounds out system. But no one actually talks about these things, let alone screams them from the tops of tables with a martini glass in hand.

She smoothed out her black dress slacks and kicked off her shoes beneath the desk. Her pale face and long straight jet hair reflected back at her on the hard surface of the screen projector. It clicked on at her touch and a welcome screen appeared. Her fingers glided over the surface with practiced ease as she entered in her codes and began to filter through her inbox. She assigned colored flags to each task assigned to her, setting their priority in accordance to her employer's standards. Everything she did here was watched, there was no creating one's own style, only follow corporate protocol. The idea was that if something went wrong, the error could be traced to it's source efficiently.

These idea's were crap to Laura, she figured it was more likely that the higher ups preferred that the people on the seventh floor function more like robots than people, just to eliminate risks.

At noon there was a pleasant chiming that echoed throughout the building, signalling the designated lunch time. Soon after there was a tapping sound from just behind her, she swiveled in her chair. Knowing exactly what was coming to her.

Mr. Fellers was her supervisor, the floor supervisor for the tech office and a serious dick. He was in his mid fifties from the look of him, he had greyed hair and equally dulled facial features. He wore jowls that reminded her of some angry dog and his dark eyes always held a suspicious glint to them.

" Weathers, I'd like you to report to my office during lunch." He said flatly though a grin threatened to surface at the corner of his mouth.

" It's Weather sir, not Weathers..." She said for the millionth time.

" Ten minutes Weathers." He said as he walked away, ignoring her correction.

Laura sighed and pushed herself out of her desk chair, hoping to beat the regulars to the break room to catch a cup of coffee without having to make eye contact with anyone. She walked stiffly down the side isle and heard the familiar banter coming from the break room. Someone mock shouted, "We're all gonna die!" and she decidedly passed the room and moved to the desk of Mr. Fellers' secretary.

" No breaks for you either Laura?" James asked without looking up from his screen, he was always hard at work. Doing most of Mr. Fellers' job unfortunately for him. The only thing that got him was job security and underpayment.

Laura wasn't interested in banter today, she still felt some of the sickness that had plagued her over the weekend, a case of the mondays was an understatement at this point.

" Go on in." James said after a beat, glancing up at her glum expression as she passed.

Mr. Fellers was seated behind his prized oak desk, it displayed tiny engraved famous battle scenes from centuries passed at its borders. Laura took a seat and starred down at two men spearing a skinnier man through the chest, how apt. Mr Fellers' office was like an odd museum more than a professional space. He'd spent a couple of years in the UNSC years back and was proud to display it, even though he'd never actually been on the battlefield.

He even had a small collection of guns he kept on racks in the office, just to intimidate those sitting on the opposite side of the desk. Laura's eyes wandered to the rifle to her left, she recognized it as a civilian version of a XBR55, and wondered if a) it was still semi-automatic and b) if dickhead over there had ever even shot it before. Her thoughts were cut short by Mr. Fellers' voice.

" Don't worry about that Weathers." He said with a satisfied grin.

Laura turned her head back to him, her hair wiping over her shoulders with the movement. She struggled not to show her annoyance, instead communicating nothing with a flat expression.

"I'm not Mr. Fellers, I was wondering if your rifle is the standard or the semi-automatic." She said truthfully, leaving out the other question.

Mr. Fellers was taken aback, as she expected he would be, she'd heard him go on and on about weaponry before. She'd bitten her tongue as he spouted second hand opinions, keeping her father's odd idea of an education to herself.

Recovering from her surprise question he glanced up at the weapon then back to her, eyes narrowing.

" Non of your business Ms. Weathers, I asked you here to speak on concerns brought to me over the weekend." He began, looking quite pleased with himself as she stiffened in her chair.

" While I think that voicing one's concerns is a valid activity I do not think that your actions at an official event were in anyway appropriate. I tried to deflect this but-" His hand picked up a small sheet of carbon paper, thin and pink, the writing on top blurred. She knew what it was and abandoning formality snatched it from his fat fingers, holding both edges she scanned it then looked up at him with a cold expression.

" I see." She said and put the sheet in her coat pocket, " I assume that will be all then?" She asked. Mr Fellers nodded and she rose silently and quickly exited the room. She made quick wide steps, elongating her legs and making a soft clacking sound on the tight woven carpet.

She pushed through the women's restroom door and into a stall. She stood in silence for several moments, her eyes closed as she tried to calm the fury inside her. She could not loose this job. She could not loose this job or she'd loose her apartment and she'd have to call her brother. Shame welled up inside her and she slammed her small fist against the metal dividing wall. There was a satisfying echo from the contact, she did it a few more times then gave into a sob folding down to sit against the wall. Her elbow touched the cold porcelain of the toilet and she glared at it, inching away from it and closer to the stall door.

She stayed there for the remainder of the lunch break, not wishing to share her humiliation with the rest of the office. The sharper chime that signaled the end of lunch brought butterflies to her stomach and she thought maybe she was sick again. She decided to stay awhile longer, not that it mattered if she reported back to her desk on time now.

She woke in the dark, startled she felt around and heard a splash and a cold shock as she touched the water in the bowl beside her. She must have nodded off, the whole day must be done and she was sitting in the dark in a closed office building. She stood and stretched her sore muscles wondering how the janitorial service had not found her but glad at the same time that they hadn't.

She felt around and managed to open the stall door, the room glowed ever so slightly from the small window at the top of the wall. She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes. She found the door and pulled it inward just a bit to peak around for the janitors, maybe they were late or perhaps they'd skipped the ladies room tonight. A glance around the office room revealed no one, in the dark glow of the evening streets the room seemed unnaturally large, much more so than in the daylight. She made to step out when she heard an odd sound from the direction of her desk. She recoiled back and looked through the crack between the door and the frame below the hinge.

She gasped as she saw her city, now either engulfed in flames or dead dark. She shut the door and slid back against it, hugging her knees to her chest. What had happened? She wondered, though in the back of her mind she felt like she knew. She sat there for several minutes until she heard something on the other side of the door. She stiffened, held her breath and listened.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The pilot of the pelican glanced nervously behind him, the door to the cockpit had been ripped off of it's hinges at some point and the scene behind it terrified him. He was on the last emergency rescue mission, out to pick up the last survivors in New Manila and get the hell out of there.

The few things he hadn't expected was that the team of marines assigned to this mission would be overcome by covenant forces and that currently the master chief of all people was grappling with an elite who had jumped aboard just as they'd taken off. The spartan had ordered him to maintain his flight destination, that he'd "take care of it". Taking care of it looked damn scary he thought, the refugees all cowered against the wall of the craft or inside the cockpit with him while the two armored figures fought hand to hand.

The elite snarled and threw a massive clawed hoof towards the green armored chest of the chief, he sidestepped and caught the creature in the jaw with his fist. The alien was dangerously close to the edge of the open hatch, wind wiping around the two. He lost his balance and began to fall, the passengers cheered but just as his feet lifted off the deck his massive arm swung out and encircled the shoulders of the man in MJOLNIR armor and they both disappeared. All on deck fell silent, the only sound was the wind whistling through the open compartment.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The muffled sound of foot steps passed the door, odd sounding voices and a dull hum filled the silence. Laura listened quietly, her eyes wide and watery with terror. She was trapped, she didn't know how to get away and she didn't know where to go to next if she did. The creatures on the other side made an odd barking sound as they passed, a deeper voice farther off answered their sounds. She felt panic rising inside her, fearing they'd heard her she quickly got up and got into the last stall and hugged her knees. She put her face down and wanted to cry, feeling hopeless. She could try to run but she didn't even have a way to protect herself. Realization struck her and she shot a look towards the door.

If she listened at the door long enough she could figure out when whoever was on the other side was farthest away. If she ran fast enough she might make it to Mr. Fellers' office before they could shoot her. Of course then there were several new problems after that, what if there was no ammo in there, what if the gun didn't even work, what if there was another one of those things already in there? It didn't matter, she had to try.

After thirty minutes she thought she'd figured it out, from the sounds outside the door minus the random explosions outside it seemed like they pass the door every ten minutes. They must be pacing through the room then leaving to check another, their feet made sounds like dogs walking on tile floors when they left the carpet to enter the stairwell. That would be her window.

She hear them shuffle by again, the electric hum they seemed to expel passed by her. She took a deep breath and stretched her legs, trying to ready herself. A few moments later she heard the clacking of their feet on concrete, she threw open the door and was bathed in orange and purple light from the window. The footsteps died as they descended the stairs, she took off.

Laura ran through the middle isle and took a hard right directing herself to the office. The door was open, it was empty, she saw the gun and she felt like she could actually make it. She dove behind the door and caught herself before she slammed it shut like a bad horror movie. She clutched the door handle and shut it slowly, holding the handle so it made only the tiniest sound. Wheeling around she set herself on her next task.

The rifle was in decent shape despite it's previous position as a dust collector. She took it apart, field checking it the way her dad had always taught her. Everything was in working order. She checked the clip, empty, her heart sank. She sat on the floor staring at the empty clip while the sound of the returning patrol passed by her. Not wanting to alert any attention to her until she felt ready, she sat silently waiting for the next window. After their feet clacked on the floor again she shot up and over to Mr. Fellers desk and ripped open all of the drawers and found papers, pens and even an embarrassing magazine but not a single box of bullets.

Sighing she let herself drop back into the large plush chair, the lights from the turmoil outside danced on the ceiling. She was out of options now, glancing around the room listlessly until they fell on a curious shape on the wall. A symbol for the regiment that Mr. Fellers must have been part of, complete with two more clips for the same rifle carefully balanced to accent the symbol. She approached slowly, unsure where the patrol was now and not wanting to get her hopes up. She reached for them and the weight told her all she needed to know, they were loaded.

She bumped one clip into the rifle and stuck the other into her waistline. A test of the scope revealed that it hadn't been calibrated in years probably and it would be useless, she would have to rely on her own aim. It had been years since she'd fired a gun, let alone a semi-automatic rifle. This was going to be tough. Brushing that aside she carefully opened the door a crack and eased the barrel out the door, taking aim at the stairwell her best bet for a clean shot. She waited for a long while, holding the heavy weapon and counting her uneven breaths.

Finally three round glowing circles came into view, she stayed her weapon. The three weren't in any kind of formation, they seemed leisurely which was good she might have a chance then. The creatures behind the circles came into view, they looked like anthropomorphic bird-dinosaurs. She opened fire, one short three round burst and one dropped spreading blue blood into the carpet. The other two turned quickly and faced their circles towards her.

She cursed inwardly and dropped to the ground, hoping they hadn't quite seen her. She crawled to the edge of the cubicle walls and edged along the side towards the isle. She held her rifle up against her left shoulder and glanced quickly around the corner to her right. The two creatures were facing slightly to her left, she could see behind their glowing, what she guessed were shields.

She took a breath and turned again, this time taking aim and firing two more bursts. One on the right went down, the other opened fire as it turned. She couldn't drop anymore so she forced herself into a standing position and pelted the last one with a longer burst, the bullets pinged off the shield. That maneuver bought her enough time to sink to her knees opposite of where she stood and fire a more concise burst, the creature fell forward, it's shield dissipated.

She might have jumped for joy at her triumph but just as she let herself begin to breathe again she heard the loud thumps of something big coming up the stairwell, she looked around in a panic then ran into the center isle and took refuge in a cubicle.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The bar on his heads-up-display was flashing red in time with it's accompanied alarm. John took a moment to verify that he could move before actually trying it. The beeping subsided and the shield cycled to recharge, it never failed to surprise him that he could fall out of the sky in total free fall and still have a working shield. The master chief stood and took in his surroundings a civilian area downtown and ridden with movement on his radar display. He reached down and retrieved his MA5D assault rifle that lay next to the dead elite from the pelican.

He tried the communication lines between he and the pelican, no go. He moved straight on to trying to contact the drop ship that had brought him down with a team of marines from the _Infinity_. He tried the _Infinity _afterward, no answer. Perhaps something was interfering with his own communication systems, it seemed like the battle above them was going smoothly, the small Covenant battalion had not expected the behemoth of a ship to appear out of slip space, he'd gone groundside to help with the clean up and secure the evacuation of New Manila before it and it's invading Covenant troops were blown to bits.

He didn't have much more time to mull this over before his sharp hearing caught the sound of human gunfire at his 3 o'clock. It seemed oddly distant, so it must be up in one of the tall buildings he'd fallen beside. He studied them a moment longer and thanked his luck that he didn't fall _into_ one of those steel rebar and concrete buildings.

The Master Chief allowed himself a new directive, find the source of those shots, perhaps they'd lead him to a new exit strategy.

Just as he located the building he suspected was the source more shots could be heard from above. These were erratic, desperate, whoever was up there was in trouble. He pushed through the double glass doors and found two grunts with their backs to him. They were quick to neutralize and he headed up the stairwell.

He found several rooms empty as he made his way up. At each floor he stood with his back against the wall, rifle at the ready, and glanced around the corner into the rooms. He'd ascended five floors like this and was approaching the sixth flight when he heard the tell tale sounds of an elite moving awkwardly down the stairs above him. He crouched and readied himself to take him out by surprise. Instead, the warrior turned and entered the sixth floor room. From his crouching position the master chief jumped up into the center of the stairwell and caught a hand hold on the sixth floor landing. Contorting his body he threw himself over the railing and landed a boot into the elite's face. With quick precision he pulled out his combat knife and sunk it into the back of the its elongated neck. It shook then grew still, growing heavier in his grasp. He let go and retrieved his knife.

The next thing he saw surprised him, across the room from him stood a female civilian holding a rifle. Her eyes glowed in the light from the windows, in them he saw fear but also something else, he was impressed. She brandished her weapon towards him and he straightened instinctively throwing up the "Friendlies" hand signal.

" Stand down. I'm here to help." He said and she lowered her weapon. He approached her slowly, noting the three jackals on the ground.

" Did you do this?" He asked, trying to sound indifferent despite being impressed. She didn't even look like former military.

She let her weapon fall to her side, he noted she was left handed. Her stance began to waiver and he turned his eyes back to her face.

" Holy Hell..." She said as her eyes fluttered. He pushed himself forward and closed the distance between them, trying his best to be gentle as he caught her and laid her down on the floor.

Well, that was a good start.

* * *

Whew... That was long, Yay for inspiration. Some spelling and general errors fixed 12/14/12

I totally messed up and had to rewrite the last quarter so I hope it's as good the second time around. I hate rewriting, all the fun stuff was already done right?

Review please


	2. Chapter 2

A little shorter than chapter 1, trying to hash out some necessary details before the story continues.

Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter

* * *

2562

New Manila, Mars

Laura's eyes opened to a very bright light and she winced turning her face away from the source. The lights shut and she turned back to look up, the thing she barely remembered was kneeling over her. A big green helmet with an orange reflective face starred back it her, or at least she thought so she couldn't see its eyes.

She gasped and pushed herself up and away from it, crawling back on her palms and backside to the cubicle walls. She cringed as it shifted its weight and held out a black and green armored hand.

" Don't be afraid, I said before I'm here to help." It spoke in a gravely male voice. She looked him over, could it be a person she was looking at? That was hard to believe, he was huge, bigger than anyone she'd ever seen. People were just not that big, he must be a robot, she thought.

"What- what are you?" She stammered, she said as she accepted the lift up. Her stomach flopped like she was on a roller coaster he moved her so fast. He eased her back onto her feet and leaned down to gather her rifle and inspect it.

" I'm a soldier, with the UNSC. The city is being evacuated." He said simply as he looked over the weapon and glanced at the clip in her waist band.

" You may loose that magazine, or it could drop down at an impromptu moment. I will carry it for you." He said holding his hand out expectantly.

She blinked at him, not quite understanding, still struggling with what was in front of her to move on. She made no move to reach for the clip and he looked into her face wondering why she wasn't complying.

" Are you a robot?" She asked in a small voice. The words weren't very surprising but they always felt a little derogatory, he quickly brushed that aside and simply shook his head.

Her brown eyes shifted about nervously but she relinquished the clip finally and he stowed it away and offered her back her weapon.

"So, you're a person in there?" She asked and he nodded once in response, she took the gun without looking away from him. He studied her as well, her frame was small and she didn't have a proper way to carry that rifle. She would be slow moving and he'd probably have to find something for her to eat eventually if he wanted to keep moving at a decent pace.

" Where did you get the rifle?" He asked her and she pointed to an open door, the name Roger Fellers was stamped onto the front.

She searched herself for an explanation, uncertain what to say next and what would be ok. She felt like she might be in trouble somehow, perhaps she'd missed the evacuation and she'd be charged for the special help. The figure in front of her glided towards Mr. Fellers' office and began to search through it, collecting other weapons.

He said something to her but she didn't hear, she was too busy in her thoughts. Maybe she was in shock, she thought, does someone know when they're in shock? He appeared beside her again and snatched the rifle again, attaching a strap to small hardware pieces at opposing sides.

" What's your name?" He asked, offering the rifle back a second time. She starred down at it, approving of the addition but someone too dumbfounded to truly comprehend.

"Um...Laura..Weathers..." She cleared her throat and looked up into the orange reflection of herself, " I mean Weather. Laura Weather."

" Is Laura alright?" He asked and she nodded, " I'm going to get you out of here alive but in order to do that you must listen to anything I say and execute it without hesitation. Do you understand?" He asked. His seriousness finally brought her back from her haze, she looked around him, behind the lights of the burning city edged the bulky armor with a yellow hew.

" Yes. Why do I get to keep the gun?" She asked and he shrugged.

" You seem decent enough with it." He said and motioned towards the bodies on the floor. She looked at them, that had felt like ages ago. He seemed to understand as he leaned over her, helping her with the strap.

" Sometimes when the adrenaline wears off something you just did seems far away." He said, " If you wear it like this, you can shoulder it quickly like this." He said, bringing the rifle up to show her. She nodded, remembering her father talking about such tactics before.

"Just..Don't shoot _me_.." He said as he turned away from her to look out the window, stepping away with heavy steps to approach the window.

" You're joking right?" She asked with a scoff, following him to the window. " Oh my god..." She said, her words trailing off as she looked at the state of things outside.

On the street more creatures like the one's she'd shot were walking the streets, in the sky great purple ships were looming over the city. Smaller versions of the sleek ships were zooming about, two sharp tails jutting out the back.

" I'm sorry." He said, sounding more formal than sincere.

She turned to him and watched the colors dance in the reflective visor, " me too." She said prompting him to look down at her. He must be easily two and a half feet taller than her.

" What now?" She finally asked and he turned away from her, saying something vaguely to no one in particular. She realized he must have a radio of some sort built in, he was contacting someone to pick them up. She sighed in relief, it would all be over soon.

" _Infinity _come in, this is Sierra 117. Requesting immediate extraction, one adult female passenger." He said a third time then turned back to her and shook his head. Something was wrong, she frowned for the both of them and turned back towards the window.

" Something must be interfering with my transmissions." He said." You don't know what's wrong?" She asked and he shook his head again.

" I might have before, but not now." He said, sounding almost sad if that was at all possible. " We have to leave the city, we have.." he paused a moment, " until 0800 hours to get to safety." She didn't look at him this time but kept her eyes on two large muscular purple creatures like the one he'd leaped on earlier.

"Safety from what?" She asked and he starred at her silently, making her feel like he had a good reason for not saying. It was definitely a bad thing whatever it was.

" What time is it now?" She asked hoping that they didn't run into anymore of the creatures she was studying but doubting the odds of that.

" 0435, we don't have much time. I will have to hijack a ride for us." He explained simply, he was always so curt and direct.

" You know..For not being a robot...You sure sound like one." She said with a smile, he starred back at her silently and she sighed. " That was a joke...Am I going with you?"

He nodded and began to look over his assault rifle checking the bar facing him for his ammo count.

" I can't guarantee I'd be able to retrieve you from here, or that you'd be safe hiding here alone."

Laura nodded back and turned away from the window and walked down the isle along the wall and turned inside the break room. He stood there for a moment, then followed behind her, lingering in the open door frame as she pilfered through a box.

" What are you doing?" He asked and she held up a green pull over corded sweater.

" I'm looking for something better to wear than a blouse." She explained. She pulled off her white shirt and smirked as the hulk in the doorway averted his glance and became suddenly interested in the linoleum floor.

She pulled on the tight green sweater and found a men's oil cloth jacket and threw it over her shoulders, thankful for the rain they'd been getting lately. Looking down at her feet she sighed, her leather loafers probably weren't the best footwear. She could hear her father's chiding already.

" O'kay. I'm ready." She said as she snagged a few meal bars from the 'honor till' box and stuffed them in her jacket pocket.

He nodded and turned back to the office checking the stairway and elevator doors for movement.

" What do I call you anyway?" She asked as she opened the first packaged bar and took a bite.

He turned back to her looking her over in a way that made her feel tiny, which in this case she was.

"Just call me Master Chief."

* * *

Please review if you like my work, it keeps me going. Thanks for reading. Spelling and general errors correction 12/14/12


	3. Chapter 3

I made some edits to previous chapters, they had a few odd mistakes in them so I apologize for that.

Perspective changes a few times in the chapter, I think I made it clear but I also demarked them with larger breaks between sections.

Let me know what you think of this one and send me some reviews

* * *

2562

New Manila, Mars

0510 hours, two hours fifty minutes until detonation

" Stop. Wait here." The master chief said to the girl behind him without looking back, speaking was already an inconvenience but it wasn't as if hand signals made any sense to a civilian.

They'd exited the building he'd found her in and had been weaving through alleyways, darting across streets if he could find a clear spot. The more they stayed out of trouble the more likely it was that he'd keep her alive.

On his motion sensor four markers were coming up on their 9 o'clock, he turned against the wall intending to wait until they got close enough that he could guess what he was dealing with. Nearest to the corner, his back to the wall he stole a glance to his side. The girl's wide brown eyes had that look of fear in them again, her hands trembling at her sides.

He didn't know why he felt the urge to but he reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder and waited until she looked up at him. His reassurance seemed successful, as he felt her relax a bit under his hand. Meanwhile, on his motion tracker the blips were closing in on them.

He let go of Laura and turned around, stepping around the corner and facing a group of grunts. Two controlled bursts and two went down, he allowed their plasma pistol bursts to diffuse across his shield, knocking it down a quarter. Two more bursts and the street was clear, unshouldering his weapon he glanced at Laura and motioned for her to follow.

" We should move quickly." He reminded her, even though for him even her fastest pace was a walk in the park. The mission was, however, to rescue the inhabitants of the unfortunate city and bring them aboard the _Infinity._ The threat here on Mars, would be exterminated in a matter of hours but it didn't answer what it was they'd come for. In many other cases, the covenant attacked human settlements partially to acquire some sort of technology, would that be destroyed here as well or has it already gone up to the ships above?

He reached the end of the next alley and discovered that there wasn't another across the street, they'd have to move along the road for a bit. He didn't like the idea of being in the open with a civilian under his protection.

" Do you know this street?" He asked her, hoping that she might have some useful knowledge of the area. She nodded and looked out beyond him.

" Its 82nd ," She said smoothing her hair back. " I don't remember alley ways though, it's a busy street with a lot of foot traffic so I don't think they're as open."

He nodded once in acknowledgement and glanced out into the street, first to their left then their right. They had company on both sides and not a lot to work with in regards to cover.

" I think we should double back." He said resolutely, and she nodded her head moving to the side so he could pass her to take point again. High above them the sky began to hum and he whirled around to look up at a Phantom coming down onto the road.

" Looks like our ride is here." He said and the girl behind him took in a sharp breath.

" You've got to be kidding." She said but he seemed to ignore her, looking up at the fire escape beside them instead.

" Can you climb that?" He asked her and she followed his gaze.

" What if I told you I'm afraid of heights?" She asked with a smile of uncertainty.

" Then I'd tell you it's time to face your fears. Start climbing." He said and handed her the extra magazine.

"Give me some cover from up there. Go for the little guys, with the big ones you'll be just wasting your bullets. Stay in cover, don't take risks. Understand?" He asked her, and she nodded turning to begin her climb. He watched her, wondering if this was actually a bad idea as she reached the first landing. When she was in position she glanced down at him and he motioned as best she could understand that she wait until his mark.

Crouching at the corner, he looked down the road to the dropship, it was hovering over cluster of enemy soldiers. It seemed like it must be dropping off supplies, not more personnel, for that he was grateful. He counted four elites, all in the lower cast armor colors, he could handle that. Under their command were two different formations of jackals with their round shields, and a dozen grunts. Up high he spotted a jackal with a carbine, he took in a breath, a bit more worried about the civilian he'd placed above him now. He looked back up at her, she seemed to be surveying the area through her scope. Good, she might be some help after all.

Moving back to a position directly below her he waited for her to look down for his direction again.

When she saw him he held up two fingers, she turned and looked at her two o'clock which honestly surprised him but he continued the message. Switching from the two to one finger in quick succession them to a gun shape , thumb and index finger out. He looked up at her expectantly, hoping she'd understand.

Laura watched his hand and tried to remember what her dad said they meant, the first was easy. A number meant a location, her two o'clock, she looked but wasn't certain. The air coming off the roof was cold and her shivering made the rifle unsteady. She was at the top of the metal escape with a corner of the building roof for cover, if she moved slightly out of cover to the left or right she had a good view of the aliens on the ground.

She felt nervous, she'd never done anything like this before. She'd waited in a tree stand for hours on end to shoot an elk, but an elk doesn't shoot back. She looked back down at the soldier below her, she couldn't believe he was willing to help someone like her. If it was the other way around, she'd probably just save herself. His fingers moved into two more symbols and she thought she might have it. A gunner at her two o'clock. She turned and looked through her scope.

A grayish bird creature like the one's she'd shot in the office was standing on a balcony. Comically placed between two tables set for dinner, it held in its hand a large purple thing she figured was a gun. She glanced back down to the Spartan and nodded once, feeling a blush come to her cheeks as she realized she was imitating him. He gave her the go ahead and she took aim, hoped she was right about how the sights worked and fired. As the gun beneath her boomed to life and the bullets flew she closed her eyes tightly for a moment then opened them. The balcony was empty, the body had plummeted to the street below.

To her side she could hear the chief was starting his approach and she quickly redirected her aim to the small creatures with the triangles jutting out of their backs. She concentrated her aim on them, finding that sometimes if she lost her rhythm she couldn't maintain aim and that the creatures had an odd tendency to jump for no apparent reason. She missed more often than not but she managed to take down at least eight while the green armored figure plowed through them. An elite leveled his weapon at him but he rolled at the last moment, taking the time to swoop up a few blue shapes and lob them in the assailant's direction.

The ball struck the big creature in the chest and he screamed for a moment before it was eclipsed by white and blue light. She stared at that scene for a moment before she realized she'd lost sight of the chief, panicked she glanced about the road and found him a few yards to the right of that ugly scene.

He moved around another big creature and struck it from behind, she could hear the blow for way up there and winced. However the creature just seemed angered, it opened and closed its grotesque split jaw and landed a blow to the spartan. Around him the air seemed to burst and he dropped down, trying to recover from the blow. The creature lifted it's arm for another blow and she jumped into action, jumping up and pushing herself on her elbows to the edge of the roof and firing three bursts in a row. The elite fell over in a heap.

The Master Chief saw the blow before it was coming but didn't have time to correct it, he took it and his shield took the brunt of it. His side began to send him messages of pain as he crumpled down to a knee, he turned his assault rifle towards his enemy hoping he'd done enough to take down the shield and a long burst to the chest would take care of him.

He heard the shots and the elite before him sank down to the ground, glancing up he saw the girl in a fairly precarious position. He felt that strange feeling from before, he was impressed but also confused. How does this girl keep doing these things?

A quick visual scan verified they were alone on the road and he stood and motioned for her to come down and follow. He didn't bother to wait for and instead climbed into the phantom, and took out a grunt heading for the turret and hugged the wall until he reached the control room, leapt on the elite at the controls and with a quick jerk and a sickening crunch sound broke it's neck.

Coming around to the controls he looked them over, wondering if he could handle this thing without Cortana's help. Suddenly the choice to not replace his AI seemed like it was probably poor strategy, maybe he wouldn't even be in this position if he had an AI to fix whatever had gone wrong with his communications.

Laura stepped up behind him, breathing heavily, she must have sprinted over despite how slow it had seemed to him. She collapsed into a seat on the side of the cockpit and lolled her head in his direction.

" Tell me you can fly this thing."

"Yeah. Working on that." He said and pressed a few buttons, trying to jog his memory. Soon he had it lifting up above the city and turned it, directing it West and started out at a slow speed.

"Why are we going so slow?" She complained without looking up, it looked like she was checking over her rifle. Ignoring her question he directed the conversation right to his own.

"How do you know what you're doing with that?" He asked, motioning to the rifle in her hand.

She froze and looked up at him, " It's hard to explain, my dad had a weird way of teaching a girl to be self sufficient. Would you believe me if I told you I just sort of remember how to do it? Like its engraved in my brain?"

The notion was more familiar than she could have guessed, he nodded once and looked back out towards their current direction. The image of a group of kids in a forest, pelting guards with rocks, playing in his memory.

* * *

Writing action scenes is super tiring! I will post a new chapter soon hopefully, the next one will be a lot more talking and a little less action.


End file.
